Thursday, October 21, 2004

The American elections are no doubt the hottest current event and will remain to be so for the coming few weeks. so I thought you might be interested in taking a look on how people in Iraq and other Arab countries think of this grand event. My source this time-like in some previous occasions-was an Arabic forum from the BBC. The forum was discussing this question:
If John Kerry is going to win, will the American strategy in Iraq be changed?

The majority of the commentators seemed to agree that whoever going to be elected, he won’t change the strategy of the USA in Iraq and the region. Most of those were supporters of different conspiracy theories while some believed that democracy and the sharing of power and decision making in America was the reason. One of the most adopted conspiracy theories was the “Zionist lobby domination over the government of the USA”, some readers were even more ‘original’ in their beliefs!, and while the majority of Arab posters showed their distrust in the American system as a whole, a small portion favored John Kerry and a lesser portion favored George Bush.
Iraqis on the other hand were less bitter, although conspiracy theory can be seen in many comments. However, those who still fear the “Zionist lobby” seem to separate it from America’s plans in Iraq and have more hope in her. Few posters had a clear stand favoring one candidate. Most of those supporting Kerry were Arabs, while supporters for Bush where mainly Iraqis.

“Bush is a better choice than Kerry.
Regardless of the reasons behind the war in Iraq, I’m hearing news about Iraqis happy with the liberation and frankly speaking, some of the Arab media are very hypocritic when it comes to the situation in Iraq and they exaggerate things greatly.
We-the Arabs-are getting to understand many new subjects”
Mohammed Kerim Al Sabti - Oman.

“If John Kerry wins, I’m going to grieve to death because Iraqis want Bush to accomplish the mission.
As an Iraqi, I’m going to have a party when Bush gets reelected.
I know that time is needed for things to settle down in Iraq and what’s going on right now is a natural side effect for the fall of the past regime”
Shakir-UK.

“Don’t you agree that our Arab brothers are not paying attention to what Iraqis themselves think about the war on Saddam?”
Huda-Baghdad.

“From my point of view, I see that Bush lost the battle and now he’s trying to defend his policy but he will lose more. While if John Kerry behaved rationally and improved his position to prove that Bush was wrong, then he’ll be a better choice than Bush. While if he decided to follow Bush’s course then he will be his successor in failure.
Anyway, I believe that Kerry is going to change his country’s policy in Iraq because America is now sinking in a swarm and day by day it’s getting more difficult to get out of this swarm”
Khalil-Iraq.

“I’m not going to judge John Kerry for his intentions but I believe that Bush’s brave decision to topple the dictator of Iraq had changed the direction of history in the ME not only Iraq.
I hope to see Bush win; he’s the man who liberated Iraq and he’s capable of building the dream example.
As for the WMD’s issue, we all know that Saddam used them and the massacre of Halabja in 1988 is only one example, not to mention that he had always threatened to use WMD’s”
Nawfal Al Jazaeri-Virginia/USA.

“The American policy is not going to change if the democratic candidate wins. It can only change if Britain wanted it to change because Britain plans and America only executes orders ”
Mohammed Jasim-Baghdad/Iraq.

“There won’t be a big difference; the American policy has constants and fixed principles and there are institutions that decide America’s interests not a group of people (administration) who do whatever they want. It’s the congress who plays the major role in the decision making process.
America is staying in Iraq whether it was a democratic or a republican man in the white house, besides, we all know that the law of the liberation of Iraq was released in Clinton’s days back in 1998. The American interests in Iraq and in the region demand a permanent existence for American forces to protect these interests and also to help and support the Iraqi government which is still weak and depends much on the American forces in managing the security situation in Iraq.
We may see only a reduction in the number of troops and this depends on how the security is going to improve in Iraq and on the Iraqi government gaining more control over the country and only then, the troops may be reduced but a total withdrawal is impossible.
The American vision about Iraq is that Iraq is the no.1 ally and the most important country for American interests in the region and consequently the American presence will remain strong and active”
Mohammed Al Khafaji-Babylon/Iraq.

“Yes, as Mr. Bush said; the world has become a better place without Saddam. For me, it became a happier place, only our happiness is not a complete one yet because of the foreign terrorists who entered our country”.
Ibrahim-Baghdad.

“No, because it’s the Zionist lobby that steers the wheel of the American policy regardless of who the president was, Kerry or Tom and Jerry.
I, like all other honest Iraqis wish for Bush to win so that he can keep the course of sterilizing the world from the germs that use Islam as a cover”
Ahmed Al Shammari-Baghdad.

“John Kerry cannot change the policies of the US in Iraq because the American policy (unlike the countries of the ME) is not monopolized by individuals. And no matter how high the price America is going to pay in Iraq, it will be for the best of the American people.
I think that Bush is America’s best choice”
Khalid Abdullah-Kuwait.

“What I’m going to say now is going to be what history will show: GWB and Tony Blair will have a great influence on opening the doors of the Arab countries for the coming democracy and they will help the people of those countries open their minds, because they’re the ones who took the decision alone and their people are the ones who sacrificed, and here goes Afghanistan marching on the way to democracy and after that Iraq and the rest will follow”
Fadi Fokee-Egypt.

“The story is clear; Bush and Kerry are two faces for one coin and their goal is to humiliate the Arab countries for Israel’s benefit so that the latter can impose her conditions on arab countries and enslave them. It’s time to wake up, as we know Americans don’t like us and there’s no hope that one day they would. They’re after their interests using different means including the stick, which they’re good at, and which we seem to love already"
Hasan-Beirut.